What are some of the interactive features you can embed in a wiki?
"Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments and to subordinate others.Every technology has a philosophy, which is given expression in how the technology makes people use their minds, in how it codifies the world, in which of our senses it amplifies, in which of our emotional and intellectual tendencies it disregards"(Postman, 1996, p. 224).
Audio
Embed audio files in the target language to strengthen listening skills, to support students with special needs, or to add a personal touch to your work.
Bookmarks
Provide readers with current resources by using the Bookmark feature to import a continually updated list of the websites you have recently bookmarked on a particular topic.
Calendars
Provide up-to-the minute listings of assignments using the embed calendar feature.You can also set up interactive sub-calendars that allow students to sign up for class presentations, etc.
Chat
You can hold "virtual office hours" by explaining to students that you will be available to respond to questions via an embedded chat window during certain days and times, or ask two to four students to volunteer to serve as "homework helpers" each night. If no one shows up for a help session, they can chat with one another in the target language for extra practice.
Discuss
You can draw students' attention to important discussion threads by embedding a discussion forum directly on the page.
Creativity is the only limit to the kinds of media you can embed. This image is a screen shot taken from a chat session about a wiki that I had with a colleague (and is used with her permission).
Help students visualize their audience using tools like these so that they see who is reading their work.
You can also have students create map mashupsthat contain relevant photos and information about particular places from the target countries they are studying.
Students can also create their own mashupsthat contain relevant photos and information about places relevant to the content they are studying.
Music
You can create playlists of music from the target language and embed them directly into the wiki. This is a great way to encourage students to use the language and culture beyond the classroom for personal pleasure while simultaneously improving their listening skills.
Navigation Buttons
You can embed navigation buttons (by inserting images and linking them to the pages to which you want them to point) to guide students interaction with various pages of the wiki.
RSS Feeds
Read Language Learning
Using the RSS feature of the wiki, you can set up individual pages to "collect" updated content from discussion forums on other wikis, news feeds, etc., that will be useful to students, such as this feed from the Language Learning and the Social Web blog, or WikiNews (a great example of citizen journalism).
Language learning and the social web - a beginners' guide for language teachers
Assess students' understanding and provide them with opportunities to give feedbackabout an activity or lesson using the wiki's survey tools.
Tag Clouds
If you and students are conscientious about tagging your pages, the tags will provide a useful concept map of the content of the wiki, as well as a clickable index to key topics.
Table of Contents
What are some of the interactive features you can embed in a wiki?
"Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments and to subordinate others. Every technology has a philosophy, which is given expression in how the technology makes people use their minds, in how it codifies the world, in which of our senses it amplifies, in which of our emotional and intellectual tendencies it disregards" (Postman, 1996, p. 224).
Audio
Embed audio files in the target language to strengthen listening skills, to support students with special needs, or to add a personal touch to your work.
Bookmarks
Provide readers with current resources by using the Bookmark feature to import a continually updated list of the websites you have recently bookmarked on a particular topic.
Calendars
Provide up-to-the minute listings of assignments using the embed calendar feature. You can also set up interactive sub-calendars that allow students to sign up for class presentations, etc.
Chat
You can hold "virtual office hours" by explaining to students that you will be available to respond to questions via an embedded chat window during certain days and times, or ask two to four students to volunteer to serve as "homework helpers" each night. If no one shows up for a help session, they can chat with one another in the target language for extra practice.
Discuss
You can draw students' attention to important discussion threads by embedding a discussion forum directly on the page.
Evaluate
Creativity is the only limit to the kinds of media you can embed. This image is a screen shot taken from a chat session about a wiki that I had with a colleague (and is used with her permission).
Files
Give Feedback
You can assess students' understanding and provide them with opportunities to give feedback about an activity or lesson using the wiki's survey tools.
Images
Links
Wikispaces
Maps
Help students visualize their audience using tools like these so that they see who is reading their work.
You can also have students create map mashups that contain relevant photos and information about particular places from the target countries they are studying.
Students can also create their own mashups that contain relevant photos and information about places relevant to the content they are studying.
Music
You can create playlists of music from the target language and embed them directly into the wiki. This is a great way to encourage students to use the language and culture beyond the classroom for personal pleasure while simultaneously improving their listening skills.
Navigation Buttons
You can embed navigation buttons (by inserting images and linking them to the pages to which you want them to point) to guide students interaction with various pages of the wiki.
RSS Feeds
Read Language Learning
Using the RSS feature of the wiki, you can set up individual pages to "collect" updated content from discussion forums on other wikis, news feeds, etc., that will be useful to students, such as this feed from the Language Learning and the Social Web blog, or WikiNews (a great example of citizen journalism).
Language learning and the social web - a beginners' guide for language teachers
Read WikiNews
Surveys
Assess students' understanding and provide them with opportunities to give feedback about an activity or lesson using the wiki's survey tools.
Tag Clouds
If you and students are conscientious about tagging your pages, the tags will provide a useful concept map of the content of the wiki, as well as a clickable index to key topics.
References
Free Buttons. (n.d.). Blur metal. Freebuttons.com. Retrieved March 17, 2008, from http://www.freebuttons.com/index.php?page=freebuttons&buttonName=BlurMetal&color=3
Fritzen, Anny. (2008, March 12). Feedback. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from Google Talk. Used with permission.
Postman, Neil. (1996). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. NY: Vintage Books.